Do you own a desktop Win PC not made by Dell, HP, Acer or Asus ?

[Numanoid]

I was reading some Computer Shopper mags from the mid-90s. What surprised me was how many PC vendors were doing business then.

Now it seems there is only a handful like Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Samsung, Packard-Bell, Fujitsu, Sony ...

What happened to the little guy ?

[chk071]

I own a Lenovo. You know, that underground brand nobody talks about, but which conquered the world secretly.

[Numanoid]

Forgot to add that I meant desktop PC's, not laptops.

[D-Fusion]

HP and Compaq have been in bed with each other some years now
I have had a few brand pc's now and then but the Bios are to limited so i prefer to build my own custom pc from scratch.

[Glyn Darby]

Mine is made by Zoostorm,£190 and it performs really well for the money.

[Numanoid]

Indeed, looks interesting

http://www.zoostorm.com/Category/2-desktop-pcs.aspx

[robotmonkey]

Yes. My last three desktop PC builds I have done myself. This has resulted in best performance/quietness/price ratio.

[VariKusBrainZ]

Quite a few of us around here prefer to research the parts and build our own, its too easy these days

[Numanoid]

Maybe that is what killed of the little guy PC manufacturer.

That users prefer to build their own PC's now rather than buying pret a porter?

[paveloso]

My last two systems have been custom-made.

They were much more cost-effective to build and are certainly a lot more powerful than most off-the-shelf builds I have seen in their respective price ranges.

Plus, there's something to be said about the connection with a system you know inside and out, for which you personally picked each component and whose strengths and weaknesses you carefully decided upon.

I don't think I would ever go back to purchasing a pre-built commercial brand PC. It simply doesn't make sense to me at all.

[chk071]

Yeah, custom made here too by a company which builds complete systems in cooperation with a games hardware magazine.

[Zombie Queen]

Maybe that is what killed of the little guy PC manufacturer.
That users prefer to build their own PC's now rather than buying pret a porter?

Nah, I think same as everything else, smaller manufacturers were bought out by big players. My first desktop PC, 486DX AMD, I bought ready-made, it was literally a little guy company, I think it was two guys actually. There are still a handful of computer shops around here, they deal parts, but they will put together a build for you.
Big names desktop are pain to deal with when you want to upgrade some parts, when you open it up it, you find that most of the hardware is somewhat modified and, for example, regular motherboard won't fit in at all.

[Ghostwave]

Custom-built here as well. I chose all the parts I wanted and the shop I bought them from put it together for me.

[MFXxx]

Custom built. Nice to do some research, get some quality components and over the last 15 years of self builds never looked backed.

Personally had great support from both EVGA, OVZ, WD and various forums like overlockers and scan.

[jdnz]

we use HP business line desktops where I work, and having been inside them I wouldn't even think of spending my own hard earned cash for one, tiny powersupply (as in 320w - just enough to run the base config - zero headroom for better graphics cards or more drives) and they went to a proprietary power connector (non-ATX) so when the psu does blow you're looking at paying genuine HP parts prices

the bigger Z series workstations are a lot better (had a z400 for a few years), but over-priced for what they are, far better to custom build

as for anything from the consumer range with the 'pavillion' label on it - not even useful as a doorstop